Incredibly, it wasn’t until 1980 that a black player debuted for Liverpool FC. Howard Gayle, the silky winger, come on as a second half substitute for David Fairclough against Manchester City.

While Liverpool was late to the game, the history of the other clubs in the top flight of the English football is pretty varied in terms of when a black player made his debut for the club. For many clubs, history was made in the 1970′s to 1980′s, while Tottenham Hotspur gave a debut to its first black player, Walter Tull, as early as 1909.

Here are the first black players to make a first-team appearance for each of the current 20 Premier League clubs. The date of their debut is included too:

• Arsenal - Brendan Batson – 1971
• Aston Villa – Stan Horne, early 1960s
• Blackburn – Unknown
• Bolton – Unknown, but first black Bolton player to get an England cap was Michael Ricketts in 2002
• Chelsea – Paul Canoville – April 12 1982
• Everton – Mike Trebilcock – January, 1966
• Fulham – Possibly Howard Gayle, who made his first appearance for Fulham in 1980 after being loaned out by Liverpool. First black Fulham player to get an England cap was Zat Knight in 2005
• Hull - Unknown
• Liverpool - Howard Gayle – October 4, 1980
• Man City – Stan Horne – September 25, 1965
• Manchester United – Tony Whelan – 1960s
• Middlesbrough – Lindy Lindbergh – 1950
• Newcastle - Possibly Howard Gayle, 1982
• Portsmouth – Lindy Lindbergh – 1948
• Stoke City – R.H. Brown – 1946
• Sunderland – Roly Gregoire – January 2, 1978
• Tottenham – Walter Tull – September 1909
• West Brom – Unknown, but Laurie Cunningham was the first black West Brom player to get a cap for England in 1979
• West Ham United – John Charles – May 4 1963
• Wigan – Unknown.

Other than a few soccer blogs and a handful of literate newspapers, there isn’t a plenitude of intelligent football writing available. But there is one last bastion that we can continue to depend on and that’s football books.

A good way to find out which books to buy are to find the ones nominated for the William Hill Sports Book Of The Year. The 2008 nominations have been announced and they include the following football books:

• “Black And Blue: How Racism, Drugs And Cancer Almost Destroyed Me” by Paul Canoville, who was Chelsea’s first black first-team player when he made his debut in 1982.
• “A Cultured Left Foot: The Eleven Elements Of Football Greatness” by Musa Okwonga.
• “Bamboo Goalposts: One Man’s Quest To Teach The People’s Republic Of China To Love Football” by Rowan Simons.
• “Inverting The Pyramid: The History Of Football Tactics” by Jonathan Wilson

The winner will be announced on November 24. But in reality, all of the above books are winners. If you’re looking for a perfect Christmas present for the football fan in your house, order one or more of the above books online. Some of them are available via Amazon.com for readers in North America.